It's not Annie's Boobs, but it's Something!
by aikakone
Summary: Post-ep to 1.21 Contemporary American Poultry . After the chicken craze, Britta thinks everyone forgot about her cat, but Troy remembers.


[Knock, knock]

The sound is there, but Britta doesn't want to answer the door. She doesn't want anyone to see her like this. She's a lot more vain that she's normally willing to admit

She looks out the peep hole of her apartment door, and looking back at her is one crazy eye. The view from a peep hole is always crazy, but this eye belongs to the master of the crazy eyes. And she doesn't mean Jeff Winger.

"Troy, what are you doing here?" she hisses at him as she quickly opens the door.

"Well, it's nice to see you, too," he answers, sounding rather indignant.

Troy notices she's still wearing her hat to cover her hair even when she's inside the security of her own apartment. He said he'd consider dating her if she changed her hair, but he never meant like that.

Britta relents a bit and changes her stance to a less aggressive posture. "Hi, Troy," she says, still sounding cautious as to why he might be there at her door.

"I brought you something," he tells her, sounding as smug as when he has made a joke that he thinks is the funniest thing in the world. He's smug like that right now, and he's got that disarming smile that always goes with it.

She's immediately suspicious, but that's part of her nature. She narrows her eyes at him. "What is i…"

Before Britta can finish the question, she hears a soft mewling coming from the hallway. As she realizes what she's hearing, her face changes from the hard expression she had been wearing. It almost crumples like the time when the study group made fun of her for the way she pronounced "bagel."

She steps back in surprise, and Troy's smile becomes more radiant as he follows her body language and steps through her doorway.

Britta fumbles for her words. Finally she gets some sense and says, "Thank you."

"Well, after I lost Annie's Boobs, I know a little what you're going through," he says as he places the cardboard pet carrier on her small kitchen table.

"Wow," she can't help but say as she looks through the holes in the box to see the little furry face staring back at her.

"But did you get this from that big pet store in the mall? Troy, you know they buy animals from puppy mills and kitten farms and…"

As Britta climbs back on her metaphorical soap box, he realizes she is starting to feel better. Lately, she hadn't had enough energy to rage against the social injustices, and she wouldn't be his favorite fun vampire if she stopped completely.

"Britta," he tries to reason with her, "just think how you have now saved this one." He sweetens the deal by opening the box and removing the kitten.

She immediately falls in love with the little face and massive whiskers. The fur has black and white patches that she finds so adorable. She holds her hands out to take it, cooing like a parent with a newborn baby.

Excitement fills her face, and she grabs Troy by the forearm. "What should we name her?"

"Annie's Boobs has already been taken, but we could start a new Twitter contest," he suggests as he sits down opposite of her.

"No, I know," she says with a faraway look in her eyes. Troy realizes she thinks she's being clever as she announces, "Jo."

"Like from that book about the sisters?" he asks innocently referring to _Little Women_. It's the kind of intellectual comment that is especially disarming when she considers the source.

"Maybe," she says, holding the little cat up in front of her. "Or maybe my favorite character on _The Facts of Life_."

Britta holds the kitten high on her chest, stroking it with her hands and her cheek that she presses down into the soft fur.

Troy starts to get restless as he watches Britta bonding with Jo. He makes his way to leave her apartment. He says he's going to go watch movies with Abed and Señor Chang.

"There's one called _Sharktopus_. Can you believe that?"

"Wait, Troy." Britta jumps up and puts the cat down on her ratty sofa.

"Did you want to come along?" he asks, pointing unsurely to the door. "I don't think Abed can have pets in his dorm."

"That probably never stopped Annie's Boobs from getting in there," she says knowingly.

"Annie's Boobs!" he wails and puts his fist to his mouth as he fights back his manly tears.

"Shhh," she soothes and comes over to give him a hug. "It's okay. And I just want to thank you. Jo is perfect."

"You're welcome," he mutters as he regains his composure. "So, you're not going to stay home and try little outfits on your new cat, are you?"

"No!" she laughs and scoffs in that Britta way that can only mean she can't wait for Troy to leave so she can do exactly that.

If Jeff would have been standing on her doorstep, he would have made a crack about watching her Facebook for any new pictures. As it's Troy, he just smiles sweetly and waves his goodbye before he heads over to Abed's.

Britta closes the door and smiles at how bright her day has become before she goes to play with her new kitten Jo.


End file.
